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vn' 







Our Little Swedish Cousin 


The Little Cousin Series 

S' 


Each volume illustrated with 

six or more full-page plates 

in tint. Cloth, i 2 mo, with decorative cover, 

per volume, 6o cents. 

s 

LIST OF 

By Mary Hazelton Wade 

Our Little African Cousin 

Our Little Armenian Cousin 

Our Little Brown Cousin 

Our Little Canadian Cousin 

By Elizabeth R. Macdonald 

Our Little Chinese Cousin 

By Isaac Taylor Headland 

Our Little Cuban Cousin 

Our Little Dutch Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

TITLES 

(unless otherwise indicated) 

Our Little Japanese Cousin 

Our Little Jewish Cousin 

Our Little Korean Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 

Our Little Mexican Cousin 

By Edward C. Butler 

Our Little Norwegian Cousin 

Our Little Panama Cousin 

By H. Lee M. Pike 

Our Little Philippine Cousin 

Our Little Porto Rican Cousin 

Our Little Russian Cousin 

Our Little English Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Scotch Cousin 

Our Little Eskimo Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little French Cousin 

Our Little Siamese Cousin 

By Blanche McManus 

Our Little Spanish Cousin 

Our Little German Cousin 

By Mary F. Nixon-Roulet 

Our Little Hawaiian Cousin 

Our Little Swedish Cousin 

Our Little Indian Cousin 

By Claire M. Cobum 

Our Little Irish Cousin 

Our Little Swiss Cousin 

Our Little Italian Cousin 

Our Little Turkish Cousin 

s 


L. C PAGE & COMPANY 

New England Building, 

Boston, Mass* 






SIGRID 


i ^ 

f Our Little Swedish I 


*1^ 


Cousin 


By 

Claire M. Coburn 


Illustrated by 

L. J. Bridgman and R. C. Woodberry 



4 

❖ 


• 1 ^- 

^4»4t4i4t4i4i4t4»4i4ti|i4t4i4i4i4i4i4»^ 


Bbston 


L. C. Page & Company 

MDCCCCVI 


4 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooiefi Received 


AUG 15 1906 

Cooynrf>t Entry 
CLASS XXc. No. 
COPY B. 




Copyright, igo6 
By L. C. Page & Company 

(incorporated) 

All rights reserved 


First Impression, July, 1906 



COLONIAL PRESS 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H . S intends &* Co. 
* Boston, U. S. A. 


Preface 


For more than five thousand years, the 
ancestors of our little Swedish cousin have 
dwelt in the Scandinavian peninsula. No won- 
der she loves the stories of the Vikings, the 
old legends, customs, and fete-days. They 
are her priceless heritage from the days of 
long ago. 

The snow and glaciers on the extreme north 
cut off this long tongue of land, so that it 
is as separate from the rest of Europe as 
an island. In the olden days, almost every 
Swede tilled the soil and lived remote from 
his neighbour. Villages were few, so that each 
family created its own little world of work 
and pleasure. Even the children must be 


VI 


Preface 


very industrious and ingenious to help supply 
the needs of the family. Whether she lives 
in the city or the country, every little Swedish 
girl to-day is taught this same thrift and 
industry. 

Because the winter months, when the sun 
shows his face but a few hours each day, 
are long and dreary, our northern relatives 
fairly revel in their short summers. The 
whole nation lives out-of-doors and rejoices 
in the merry sunshine. All day excursions, 
picnics, and water trips are crowded into the 
brief season. 

The peasant still owns his little red cottage 
and the well-to-do farmer and the nobleman 
live in their old homesteads. The cities 
continue to be small in number and in size, 
but slowly, slowly, the great throbbing life 
of the outside world is creeping in to steal 
away much of the picturesqueness of this 
old nation. 


Preface 


Vll 


You will be surprised to learn in how 
many ways the life of our little Swedish 
cousin is similar to that of American chil- 
dren. But she is such a very hospitable 
and polite little maid, 1 am sure she will 
give you a hearty welcome if you visit her 
and see her for yourself at work and at 
play. 


Contents 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I. The Skating Carnival . . . . i 

II. The Knitting Lesson . . . .14 

III. Yule-tide 29 

IV. At Grandmother’s 45 

V. Midsummer’s Eve 57 

VI. A Visit to Skansen 68 

VII. Through the Gota Canal ... 80 

VIII. The Name-day 93 




List of Illustrations 


PAGE 

SiGRiD ....... Frontispiece 

Brita and Her Foot -pusher . . . . 6 

“ A SHEAF OF GRAIN IS FASTENED UP IN THE 

YARD OF EVERY COUNTRY HOME” . . . 38^- 

Baking Rye Bread at Grandmother’s . .52 

“ In a twinkling, the children . . . were dan- 
cing AROUND THE POLE” .... 62 

The Gota Canal 86 


1 


V.*' ' 

L ' . I 

V 







Our Little Swedish Cousin 


CHAPTER I. 

THE SKATING CARNIVAL 

“ SiGRiD, Sigrid, hurry and get your skates. 
The ice is at last safe, and mother says that 
we may go to the park with Miss Eklund, 
this afternoon.'' 

Erik thrust his head through the nursery 
door to announce the good news to his sister, 
who was poring over her lessons for the 
next day. 

“ Oh ! " cried the little girl as she quickly 
slipped out of her seat at the long table, 
“ I am so glad, for I thought I should never 


2 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


have a chance to wear the new skates that 
father gave me on my birthday.** 

In a trice, she had gathered up all her 
books, packed them neatly away, and was off 
to put on her warm furs. She was a flaxen- 
haired little maid, with very blue eyes, and 
plump rosy cheeks as round as an apple, 
because she lived out-of-doors a great deal 
and romped with her brothers. 

In just no time at all, she had put on her 
warm blue coat, lined with gray squirrel, and 
a little cap to match, with the fur also on the 
inside. She quickly fastened on her rubber 
overshoes, which had a border of fur around 
the top and down the front. When she had 
found her white woolen mittens with a quaint 
red and blue pattern knitted right across the 
back, she was ready to join her brothers Erik 
and Anders. 

They were a jolly little party of merry- 
makers, for it was the first skate of the 


The Skating Carnival 3 

season. Our Swedish cousins who live in 

A, 

the city may not go skating whenever they 
like. They must wait till some wise person 
appointed by the government says the ice 
is quite thick and firm. 

I will beat you running down-stairs to 
the porter's door," called Sigrid, who was 
bubbling over with good spirits. Away she 
flew, down the long flight of stone steps, and 
stood dancing up and down on one foot, 
waiting for the others. 

Sigrid's father was an officer in the king's 
army, and in the winter-time, she and her 
big brother Erik and her little brother 
Anders lived with their parents and their 
governess. Miss Eklund, in a large apartment 
house in Stockholm. All the city people 
in Sweden live in these houses, plain and 
substantial on the outside, but comfortable 
inside, and not so very unlike American 
houses. In the centre of every house is a 


4 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

great stone stairway, and at the entrance sits 
a doorkeeper behind a tiny port-hole window. 
Every one who came to call on Sigrid’s 
mother, who was a very hospitable lady, and 
had many guests, must ring the porter's 
bell. Then up would bob his head before 
the little window to see if he should let 
them in. He peered through the window 
so quickly after any one rang the bell that he 
always reminded Sigrid of a Jack-in-the-box. 

“ Gerda and Per are coming too," said little 
Anders as he walked by Miss Eklund’s side. 
He had just learned to skate, so that he felt 
quite grown-up to be allowed to go at all. 
Everybody can skate in Sweden, so that the 
children learn when they are very young. 

The merry group crossed the street to the 
left side, instead of to the right as we should 
go, and started off briskly. Every few steps, 
Sigrid would make a little bobbing courtesy 
as she met some older friend. Such a funny 


The Skating Carnival 5 

little bow it was, made by quickly bending 
the knee without stopping her walk. 

Brita has such a beautiful new foot-pusher 
that her father has bought her,” exclaimed 
Sigrid. They had reached the open country 
near the skating-park, and a couple of chil- 
dren rapidly skimmed past them on these 
strange sleds. “ Don’t you think that I am 
old enough to have a foot-pusher now. Miss 
Eklund?” 

Christmas was very near and the air was 
already full of secrets, so Miss Eklund smiled 
to herself and replied, “ Perhaps you might 
ask the good father at home what he thinks 
about it.” 

I don’t believe that you know what a 
‘Toot-pusher” or “kicker” is. I am sure 
1 don’t know why you should. Picture to 
yourself the framework of an ordinary sled 
with two wooden rods fastened at right 
angles to each runner. In the front part of 


6 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


this odd-looking object, Brita had strapped 
her skates to a low narrow seat. She stood on 
one runner, grasped these rods, and gave a 
quick little kick with the other foot, which 
hastened the sled along at a lively pace. 

Soon the gleaming sheet of ice spread out 
before them. Already it was quite dark 
with people who were gliding merrily about. 

‘‘ Oh, Sigrid, the band has begun to blow,” 
cried Erik gleefully, for a Swedish ice carnival 
is never complete without a band to blow,” 
as they say. 

‘‘ When I came home from school this 
noon,” continued Erik, “ I saw them thrust- 
ing the little evergreen trees into the snow 
around the seats.” 

Fir-trees and clumps of old beeches grew 
on the snow-clad hills about the pond, but 
this wreath of evergreen trees on the rim 
of the ice, was to shelter the older people 
who sat wrapped in furs to watch the sport. 



BRITA AND HER FOOT "PUSHER 




The Skating Carnival 7 

“Those boys look like great white birds/’ 
said Sigrid, who was already fastening on 
her skates. She stopped a minute to watch 
a group of three boys who were skating 
with sails attached to their backs, — big white 
sails shaped like a capital A with the top 
cut off. 

“ Now for a race,” cried Anders, and away 
they glided over the ice to find Gerda and 
Per, who lived in the same big apartment 
house. 

Though it was only three o’clock in the 
afternoon, the sun had already set, for you 
will remember that in Stockholm the winter 
days are very short, and in the middle of 
the winter the lazy sun does not get up till 
after nine o’clock in the morning. But the 
twilight lingers for a long time, so that it 
does not get dark for a couple of hours after 
sundown. 

All too soon, it was time to start for home. 


8 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


but none of the children thought of teasing 
to stay longer, for Swedish children are 
taught to obey without asking why. 

Already a couple of huge bonfires flamed 
up along the shore. Just as they were leav- 
ing the edge of the pond, a dozen dark fig- 
ures with blazing torches passed them. So 
silently and swiftly did the little procession 
twinkle by, that you might have thought 
them will-o’-the-wisp lights. But the children 
knew they were expert ski-runners, who were 
bound for the smooth hillside. 

The long white slope was just the best 
place for the ski-lobing, and it was quite alive 
with people, for no winter sport is more wildly 
exciting. Every one wore narrow strips of 
wood, sometimes twelve feet long, turned up 
at the front, to the centre of which the foot 
was firmly secured. At a given signal, they 
placed their feet together, and down the 
hillside they shot, as though they had wings. 


The Skating Carnival 9 

“ I never see ski-lobing without thinking 
of the olden times when the fleet-footed 
peasants on skis were our only postmen,” 
said Miss Eklund. 

“ They can go over frozen rivers and hills 
as straight as a bird flies,” said Erik. 

Yes,” said Miss Eklund, “ when we had 
no post, the only way a message could be 
sent in winter, was by these ski-runners. The 
swiftest runner in a hamlet would start for 
the nearest village. There he would give the 
message to another runner to carry on to the 
next hamlet. It is wonderful how soon they 
could arouse the whole country. 

“ Instead of a letter, they carried staffs of 
wood. If this stick was burned at one end, 
it meant that a forest was afire. But if a red 
rag was attached, then the enemy had invaded 
the land and men were called to arms.” 

They were almost home now, and as they 
turned a corner a rough shed appeared in 


lo Our Little Swedish Cousin 

the corner of a park. Several people were 
just coming out. Please, Miss Eklund, 
may we stop just a minute to see the 
ice figures ? ” exclaimed all the children at 
once. 

“You must be quick or we shall be late 
to supper,” replied Miss Eklund, who always 
enjoyed these beautiful snow pictures as much 
as the children. 

Inside the low shed, was the figure of a 
young mother, with a sad but lovely face, 
who held a wee baby close in her arms. A 
fierce wind seemed to swirl her draperies, 
and she was trying to shelter the tiny creature 
at her breast, while a little boy was weeping 
bitterly against her skirts. The group was 
made of snow and ice, yet so wonderfully 
moulded were the figures, they looked like 
pure white marble. 

As they went out the door. Miss Eklund 
slipped a coin into a little box which was 


The Skating Carnival 1 1 

placed there to receive money for the poor at 
Christmas. 

Elsa and Karl must have been out in 
the country to see their grandmother/’ said 
Sigrid, as a sleigh jingled past. The mother 
and two children were cosily packed in front. 
The driver stood on a little platform built 
in the rear. A white net with a wide border 
of tassels covered the back of the horse and 
the dasher of the sleigh. 

Father/’ burst out Erik, as he came in from 
the cold, “ we did have the best time. Little 
Anders can skate as well as the rest of us 
now.” 

Well,” replied Major Lund, “ you cer- 
tainly look as though you had enjoyed 
yourself. But somebody will lose his por- 
ridge if he is not ready for supper soon.” 

The family gathered about the table. 
Before they began, the father turned to his 
oldest child and said. 


12 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


“ Erik, I believe it is your turn to say grace 
to-night. Sigrid said it yesterday.” 

Every one stood while the boy solemnly 
bowed his head and said the simple words. 

Oh, they were so hungry ! Didn't their 
supper of rice porridge, flat rye bread, pan- 
cakes and milk taste good ! The three 
children sat very quietly at the table and ate 
all the food that was served them. Not a 
spoonful of porridge or a crumb of rye bread 
was left. 

Perhaps you never saw Swedish flat bread. 
Even the king's family eat these big brown 
cakes, which are as much as a foot across, 
and look like a thin, crisp cookie. They 
have a large hole in the centre. In the 
farmers* houses, they run a long pole 
through this hole, and hang their bread 
from the ceiling. 

When the meal was over, each child rose 
and shook hands with the father and mother 


The Skating Carnival 13 

and said, ‘‘ Tack for matin,*’ or as we should 
say, Thanks for food.” Then the parents 
thanked each other. So many thanks may 
seem very strange to you, but it is an old 
and beautiful custom in Sweden. 

“ I am glad my little girl had such a happy 
afternoon,” said Mrs. Lund as she sat 
embroidering with her daughter beside her. 

But there will be very little time for skat- 
ing, during the next few days. Christmas 
will be here before we know it, and you can 
help me about many small things.” 

‘‘ Mother, may I go with you to the 
Christmas market this year ? You know I 
was sick and could not go last year,” said 
Sigrid. 

I remember, Sigrid,” replied her mother. 
‘‘ You must go to bed now, and we will plan 
about it in the morning.” 


CHAPTER II. 

THE KNITTING LESSON 

Won’t mother be surprised. Miss Eklund, 
when she finds out how fast I have learned 
to knit ? ” said Sigrid. 

“Yes, I am sure she will be much pleased,” 
replied Miss Eklund. 

Sigrid was very soberly knitting a red 
worsted square, while her governess sat near 
to help her when the little steel needles be- 
haved badly. It was Sigrid’s first piece of 
knitting, so she was flushed and eager over 
her task. 

The morning sun poured through the 
window on a pretty picture. Against the 
heavy dark wooden chair, Sigrid’s pale gold 
hair shone and glistened. It was brushed back 


4 


The Knitting Lesson 15 

very tight and trim, for that is the way 
Swedish mothers think little girls shouia 
wear their hair. The two smooth braids were 
fastened with a broad blue ribbon. Over 
her plain dark blue woolen dress, she wore 
a blue and white checked gingham apron. 
Except for the aprons which she always 
wore, Sigrid^s dresses were much like those 
of her little American cousin, only they were 
very plain and simple. She did not have 
any rings, or bracelets or necklaces. That 
was not because she did not love the pretty 
trinkets. Oh, no. But she must wait till 
she is older. 

The nursery where they were sitting was a 
large comfortable room with a huge porcelain 
stove which filled all one corner of the room 
and reached way to the ceiling. It was made 
of shiny green tiles, the colour of the walls of 
the room, and down in the front were two 
large brass doors, behind which was the fire. 


1 6 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


This was the only kind of stove that Sigrid 
had ever seen, so she never thought that it 
was queer. 

I must not forget to tell you about the 
odd decoration of the nursery windows. 
After the fashion of all Swedish windows, 
they swung out from the middle like doors. 
When the cold winter months came, on 
went double windows. Though Sigrid was 
the healthiest child in the world, she never 
knew what it was like to open a window in 
winter and let the fresh, pure air blow in, for 
all around the inside of the frame were neatly 
pasted narrow strips of paper. You buy 
these strips at the store with mucilage on the 
back like a postage stamp. In the little 
narrow space between the two windows, Sigrid*s 
mother had planted bright green mosses and 
gray lichens with tiny red cups. A little 
wooden house and several painted wooden 
men and women were placed in this minia- 


The Knitting Lesson 17 

ture park, that kept green all winter. Sigrid 
liked her window better than any in the house, 
for all the others had only the mosses and 
coloured berries. 

‘‘ Before many months, I believe you will 
be able to knit a pair of stockings,’* said Miss 
Eklund, as she watched her industrious pupil. 

Did you have to make all your stockings 
when you were a little girl ^ ” said Sigrid. 

“Yes, indeed. I was smaller than you are 
when I began to learn to knit, for my father 
was a poor farmer and there was a large family 
of us. The first thing I ever made was a 
cozy for a coffee-urn, just as you are doing,” 
said Miss Eklund. 

“ Oh, tell me what you used to do when 
you were a little girl. Did you learn your 
lessons at home as Anders and I do ? ” asked 
Sigrid. 

“It was very different when I was your age, 
for we lived way out in the country in a big red 


1 8 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


farmhouse, and our nearest neighbour was two 
miles away. We lived in the far north, so 
that when the winter days were only a few 
hours long, I could not go to school, but I 
learned a great deal at home. During the 
long evenings, father and my big brothers 
could not see to work on the farm or cut 
timber, so we would all sit together in the 
living-room with its huge open fire. Father 
made mother’s chairs or a cradle for the baby, 
or whittled tools for the farm. Brother Olaf 
carved wooden platters and spoons with 
wonderful animals and figures. Then in the 
spring-time he would sell these things in the 
city markets. 

“ Mother used to spin and weave our warm 
clothes, and she taught me how to do all 
these things, besides sewing and embroidering. 
Sometimes, father would tell us the same old 
sagas that you children love to hear.” 

Did you have to study catechism, too ? ” 


The Knitting Lesson 19 

Sigrid’s rosy face looked quite solemn at the 
thought, for every day she had to learn a 
portion of the catechism, and also Bible his- 
tory. She loved the stories of David and 
Saul and Daniel in the lions' den, but the 
catechism ! Oh, that was very, very hard 
for a little girl ! 

“ All little Swedish girls must learn their 
catechism, Sigrid, and my father was even 
more strict than your good parents,” replied 
Miss Eklund. 

‘‘ Elsa's big sister, who went to England 
last year, says that English children do not 
have to learn to knit and sew and embroider 
just as they learn their geography and spelling. 
Why do I have to learn to do these things, 
when my father could buy them for me ? ” 
asked Sigrid. 

Just then, Sigrid dropped a stitch in her 
knitting, and had to unravel two rows before 
Miss Eklund could reply. 


20 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


‘‘ Even though your mother lived in a 
beautiful house and her father was very rich, 
she also learned to knit and sew and crochet. 
You must know how to do these things so 
you will be able to take care of your own 
home when you grow up. But it is time for 
dinner now and I hear your mother's callers 
going. Make haste and put your knitting 
away lest she see her present.” 

Every morning, Sigrid had an early breakfast 
with her brother Erik, who went to a private 
school. He was studying very hard to go 
to the university at Upsala. Then she must 
study her lessons and learn many of the same 
things which her governess had been taught 
in the long winter months on the farm. And 
after that came her gymnastic exercises every 
day, as much a lesson as her reading and 
spelling. 

“ Erik,” called Sigrid, after dinner, as her 
brother walked past the nursery. Though 


The Knitting Lesson 21 

he was only three years older than his sister, 
he was a tall, sturdy boy, and Sigrid felt very 
proud of him. She beckoned him to a quiet 
corner where they could whisper unobserved. 

“ I have a surprise for mother. Miss 
Eklund has taught me to knit, and mother 
does not know yet. If I can get it finished, 
it is going to be a cozy for Christmas.'* 
That's fine," said Erik, ‘‘ but you wait 
till I show you something which I learned 
to make in my sloyd class at school." Erik 
glanced around cautiously. Nobody was in 
sight, so he drew a carved tray from his 
school-bag. 

“ Oh, it's beautiful ! " and Sigrid clapped her 
hands with glee. ‘‘How could you make 
it? Why, it is just like an old Viking ship 
with the dragon's head peering at you from 
the prow. And you have made the sides 
like the scales of some strange monster. 
Mother will be so delighted. 


22 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


“ It must be splendid to be a big boy and 
go to your school,” continued Sigrid. “ You 
do such interesting things. I wish that I 
could go on a school journey with my teacher 
for two or three days and see some of our 
wonderful old castles, as you do. Mother 
says perhaps Miss Eklund and I may go 
with her and father when they go through 
the Gota Canal to Gbteborg, next summer, 
to visit Aunt Frederika. That will be better 
than a school journey.” 

But, Sigrid, there are many wonderful 
things to see right here in our own beautiful 
Stockholm,” said Erik. “ Many school-chil- 
dren come here every spring with their 
teachers.” 

“ Sometime you promised you would tell 
me an old saga about Stockholm before there 
was any city here,” said Sigrid. 

‘‘ Oh, you mean about King Agne,” said 
Erik. ‘‘ Once father pointed out to me the 


The Knitting Lesson 23 

place where he was supposed to have landed 
with his ships, so I always like that story.” 

‘‘Yes, yes, that is the one. Do tell me,” 
said Sigrid. 

Erik loved to tell his little sister these 
stories that he had often heard from his 
mother and father, so he did not need to be 
urged. 

“ Many hundred years ago, when the bold 
Vikings sailed out from our harbours and con- 
quered far and wide. King Agne ruled in 
Upsala. Where our city is to-day, was only 
a group of green wooded islands with a few 
huts. Late in the summer. King Agne came 
sailing in from the Baltic, and dropped anchor 
near the large island, where the king’s palace 
is to-day.” 

“Why, I can see that from mother’s win- 
dow,” said Sigrid. 

“Yes, we are so high up from the water, 
we can easily see the island. These old Vi- 


24 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

king kings often went on voyages of conquest 
along our shores. Way off to the east. King 
Agne had warred against King Froste of 
Finland and slain him. Then the victor 
plundered the country and sailed over here 
with much booty. He had taken captive the 
king’s beautiful daughter Skialf, his son Loge, 
and many others. 

“King Agne was exultant over his victory 
and he wanted to make the Princess Skialf his 
bride. So he said to his henchmen : 

“ ‘ Let a spacious tent be erected beneath 
that fine oak-tree on yonder tongue of land. 
Then let my swiftest runners carry staffs of 
invitation to all the chieftains round about 
and bid them gather at a royal feast to cele- 
brate the wedding of King Agne and the fair 
Princess Skialf Command them that they 
bring a goodly store of meat and drink for the 
feast.’ ” 

“ Miss Eklund told us about the messen- 


The Knitting Lesson 25 

gers* staffs when we went skating, so I know 
about them,’’ interrupted Sigrid. 

“ These sticks were burned at one end, with 
a noose at the other end. This was a very 
plain way of telling the chieftains that they 
would be hanged and their houses burned, if 
they neglected to send the message on to 
the next chief. 

‘‘ So a large number gathered in the huge 
tent which looked out on the Baltic, where the 
dragon-prowed ships lay at anchor. 

‘‘ All this time the poor princess was very 
unhappy. But she dared not let the king 
know her fears. She thought and thought 
how she could escape becoming his bride. 
Finally a plan grew in her mind and she said 
to the king : 

“ ‘ O brave and generous king, I beseech 
you that, before the royal wedding feast, you 
hold a funeral banquet in honour of my noble 
sire. My lord, may you give ear to this great 


26 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

favour which a captive maiden begs for her 
father/ 

‘‘ The princess prayed so piteously that the 
heart of the old Viking was melted, and he 
again commanded : 

“ ‘ Let the two feasts for my slain enemy 
and for my wedding be celebrated at the same 
time/ 

‘‘ The goodly company gathered around the 
royal board, and fell to eating and drinking 
with great zest. The grave-ale was handed 
around in a huge drinking-horn, and the lusty 
warriors drank so long and so deep that soon 
they became boisterous and began to fight 
among themselves. 

“ Now the king wore about his neck a long 
and massive chain of gold. It was so long 
that it hung way down on his chest. Many 
other Viking kings had worn this royal treasure. 

“In the midst of the carousal, the princess 
whispered to the king: 


The Knitting Lesson 27 

“ ‘ My lord, have a care for your beautiful 
gold necklace, lest you lose it during the 
revels/ 

‘ Ah, my lovely bride, you are right. 
What a prudent and careful wife you will 
make ! ' said the king, as he coiled the chain 
several times around his neck. 

“ Ere long, the fiery-hearted warriors were 
so drunk with ale that sleep overcame them, 
and one by one they fell from their places at 
the table. As soon as they were soundly 
slumbering, the princess rose from her place 
by the king's side. She and the other cap- 
tives had only pretended to drink. She fast- 
ened a ship's rope to the coil of gold about 
the king's neck and then handed the rope 
to her brother, who was outside. 

Whist ! the men threw the rope over the 
branch of the huge oak. Up went the tent 
into the air, and the king was strangled with 
his own golden chain." 


28 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

What a horrible story !’* said Sigrid with a 
shudder. What became of the princess ? ” 
Ohj she and the other captives hastened 
away to the ships and sailed back to Finland. 
When the Vikings awoke from their heavy 
sleep, they were wild with rage. But there 
was nothing to do but to bury the king be- 
neath a great mound of earth, which the waves 
long since washed away.” 

“ Ugh ! I am glad I did not live in those 
cruel days, aren’t you, Erik ? ” 

But Erik shook his head and laughed. 
“ Just think what fun it would be to sail away 
in a brave ship, out on the wild ocean where 
no man had ever been before. Those old 
Vikings were as strong as giants and feared 
nothing in the world. I must finish studying 
my lessons now, but I’ll tell you another tale 
some other time.” 


CHAPTER III. 

YULE - TIDE 

‘‘Tll bring you a gingerbread goat,” said 
Sigrid to little Anders as she started for the 
Christmas market with her mother. 

“ Next year you shall go too, my son,” said 
Mrs. Lund. She kissed the little lad, who was 
trying to look brave because he must stay 
at home. From the nursery window, he 
watched them as far as he could see down 
the long avenue. Behind Sigrid and her 
mother, a cheery-faced housemaid followed 
at a respectful distance. She carried a huge 
market-basket. 

‘‘ Just think, mother. There are only three 
days before Christmas. Won’t it be jolly to 
see grandma and Aunt Frederika and all the 

29 


30 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

cousins ? said Sigrid, who was dancing along 
beside her mother. 

Yes, indeed. They will all be here by- 
to-morrow night,*’ replied the mother. 

“ What crowds of people are on the street,” 
said the child, as they wound their way 
through the good-natured throngs. 

“ Most of them are bound for the same 
place that we are,” laughed Mrs. Lund, who 
was rosy-cheeked and flaxen-haired like Sigrid. 

“ When we come to the big open space at 
the top of this hill, where all the booths are, 
you must keep very close to my side, for you 
might easily lose me.” 

“ I never saw so many little booths before,” 
said Sigrid. I like their white roofs, for 
they look like snow. Do they always have 
the Christmas market on this hilltop ? ” 

‘‘ Yes, for hundreds of years the peasants 
have been allowed to build their shelters here 
and sell their Christmas wares. In some 


Yule-tide 


31 


places, for months, the whole family has been 
carving, knitting, weaving, and sewing all these 
things that we shall see as we walk along,*’ 
replied Mrs. Lund. 

“ I see a booth with lots of little ginger- 
bread pigs and goats. May I buy one for 
Anders, over there?” asked Sigrid. 

‘^In a minute. But first I must get some 
of old Brita’s knitted caps for some poor chil- 
dren I know.” 

They halted in front of one of these booths, 
which have a few rough boards for a roof and 
a narrow counter. Here was an old peas- 
ant woman, so wrapped up in warm clothes 
that you could scarcely see her pleasant, 
wrinkled face. A black shawl was tied over 
her head, and a second dark woolen shawl was 
crossed over her breast and tied behind. Her 
petticoats were so heavily wadded that you 
wondered how she ever walked at all. 

Doesn’t she look funny, mother ? ” whis- 


32 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

pered Sigrid, who was clinging to her mother’s 
hand. 

“ Speak low, child/’ said Mrs. Lund. “ I 
would not have you hurt the old creature’s 
feelings. It is bitter cold standing here all 
day. She needs all her warm clothes. As 
long ago as when I was a child, she came here 
to sell these garments that she knits and cro- 
chets all summer. 

“ I think that must be King Oscar’s sleigh 
which has just come up the hill,” said Sigrid 
as they turned away from Brita’s booth. 

“ Sure enough. He is making his annual 
visit to the Christmas market. Let us stand 
here and watch him for a minute.” 

Just then the big Christmas crowd burst 
into a shout : “ Long live King Oscar ! ” 
The white-haired old gentleman, who is so tall 
and stately that you would notice him any- 
where, bowed graciously to his people. 

“ Would he ask me what I wanted for 


Yule-tide 


33 

Christmas, if I stood near him ? ” asked 
Sigrid. 

“ No, he asks only the poor little children 
who don’t look as though they would have 
a tree at home,” replied Mrs. Lund. “ Ah, 
he is talking to that ragged little fellow who 
watched us buy the accordion for Karl. By 
and by, his servant will buy a lot of things 
and give them to the children. He is a kind- 
hearted man as well as a good king.” 

‘‘ Hear all those birds singing ! ” exclaimed 
the child. 

Listen again and see if you cannot tell 
where they are,” said Mrs. Lund. 

Why, I believe they are cuckoo whistles, 
only I never heard so many all at once,” cried 
Sigrid. 

Suppose we go over and buy two or three,” 
said Mrs. Lund. They threaded their way to 
the booth where these cheap little clay birds 
were so popular. 


34 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

The buxom maid was loaded with bundles 
long before Sigrid wanted to go home. 

For the next two days, there was a great stir 
all over the house. Everything that could be 
washed and scoured was made clean and radi- 
ant. All the family were making presents. 
Oh, such mystery everywhere ! 

‘‘ There, Miss Eklund,’* said Sigrid. “ 1 
have finished the cozy. Now I want some 
more red sealing-wax. I have helped Anders 
wrap up his presents, and mine are almost 
ready.” 

“ Have you fastened on your rhymes ? ” 
asked Miss Eklund. 

“ All except the one for Aunt Frederika’s 
present. I cannot seem to think of a verse 
for her,” was the reply. 

“ You must be sure and have a pretty verse 
for your dear aunt, who has come way from 
Goteborg. Perhaps I can help you later.” 

Miss Eklund left her little charge labouring 


Yule-tide 


35 


with pencil and paper. Sigrid would never 
think her Christmas gifts complete without a 
verse for each one. 

‘‘ Here come father and Erik with the tree/* 
shouted Anders. 

“ Isn’t this a beauty ? ” inquired Erik, as he 
and his father rested for a minute. 

“ Did you get it in the Christmas market, 
father ? Mother and I saw a whole forest of 
little Christmas trees there,” said Sigrid. 

‘‘ Yes,” replied Major Lund. “ I wanted 
to take you children out in the country and 
cut it down myself. Sometime, when we have 
Christmas at grandmother’s, that’s what we 
will do. Then you all shall help choose the 
tree before I cut it. 

‘‘No one must go into the parlour now,” he 
continued, as he carried the tree through the 
doorway. “ Mind you, not one peep till to- 
morrow night.” He shook his finger play- 
fully at the children. 


36 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

“ I always like ‘ Dipping Day,* ** said Sigrid, 
the day before Christmas, to her brother Erik. 
“ It is such fun to eat in the kitchen.** 

She was waiting for her turn to dip the piece 
of black bread on her plate, into the kettle of 
sizzling hot fat. All the family, the relatives 
who had come to spend the holidays and 
the servants, stood about in the clean kitchen, 
eating the noonday meal. The walls fairly 
gleamed with copper and brass pans and ket- 
tles. Even the brick oven had a fresh coat of 
whitewash, in honour of the day. Every other 
little Swedish girl over the land was eating her 
dinner in the kitchen on that day, just as 
Sigrid was doing. 

In the centre of the room, a long table was 
loaded with good things to eat. And here was 
the big kettle in which the Christmas ham and 
other meats had been cooked. 

Later in the afternoon, when the children 
returned from a brisk walk in the park, they 


Yule-tide 


37 

gathered in the nursery for afternoon coffee. 
How Sigrid loved this coffee-drinking on 
Christmas Eve ! All the grown-up people in 
Sweden drink a great deal of coffee. But Si- 
grid was seldom allowed to have it except on a 
few holidays. 

The children could hear the pleasant chatter 
of the older people, whose coffee was served in 
the parlour. But they knew what was waiting 
for them in the nursery. 

On the little table there, a plate was pre- 
pared for each child with a pyramid of differ- 
ent kinds of bread. Some of these rolls were 
in such odd shapes that I am sure you would 
not call them bread at all. There was black 
bread, white bread, saffron-coloured bread, some 
shaped like little men and others like pigs and 
goats. Of course there were gingerbread men, 
and even chocolate bread figures. 

Each little mound had candy and nuts 
tucked away in the corners. The kind of 


38 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


candy which Sigrid liked best was done up in 
a small package with bright paper. Pictures 
and mottoes were pasted on the outside. 

I am afraid you will be getting as impatient 
for the Christmas tree as Sigrid. But a Swe- 
dish Christmas is the most joyous season of the 
year. And the merrymaking often lasts three 
weeks. Even the birds are not forgotten, for 
a sheaf of grain is fastened up in the yard of 
every country home for their Christmas dinner. 

At last, the folding doors of the parlour were 
opened by invisible hands. There stood the 
tree ablaze with candles and ornaments, but no 
presents. For a moment every one was silent 
for the wonder of it. 

Mrs. Lund began to sing the old carol, 
“ Now the Christmas Has Come,” and the 
others joined in. 

After Major Lund had read the story of 
the Babe in the Manger, the children caught 
hold of hands and danced about the tree. 



“ A SHEAF OF GRAIN IS FASTENED UP IN THE YARD OF 
EVERY COUNTRY HOME ” 




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Yule-tide 


39 


Round and round they spun. In a wink, the 
circle broke and the long line of young people 
went dancing in and out through the rooms of 
the house. 

“ Come and join us, father,” they shouted. 

Come, Aunt Frederika and mother.” Soon 
every one was drawn into the chain, even the 
servants in the kitchen. 

When they were out of breath with laugh- 
ing, singing, and dancing, they sat round a 
large table near the tree. 

“ What is all that noise about?” exclaimed 
Major Lund. He pretended to be surprised. 
“ Erik, there seems to be a great to-do outside 
the door. Open it and see what is wanted.” 

Erik opened it a crack. In ran a little old 
man with a long white beard. He wore a 
rough gray jacket, knee-breeches, and a tall, 
pointed red cap. 

‘‘The Tomt, the Tomt,” cried Sigrid. 

“ Is there any naughty child here, who 


40 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

doesn’t deserve a present ? ” asked the gnome. 
He hopped about and made a great deal of 
noise for a small person. 

Anders hid behind his mother’s skirt. He 
was always a little afraid of Tomt, who is much 
like our Santa Claus. 

“ No, we haven’t any naughty children,” re- 
plied the father. 

“ Then I shall leave some presents from 
my packet,” cried Tomt. He darted out into 
the hall and came back slowly tugging some 
large packages. Then he vanished as quickly 
as he had come. 

‘‘ Now, Erik, you may bring the baskets 
and help me give out the presents,” said Ma- 
jor Lund. 

Beneath the low boughs of the fir-tree were 
several large baskets, heaped with presents. 
Major Lund read aloud the verse on each neat 
package before Erik passed it. Oh, such a 
heap of presents for each and all ! It was 


Yule-tide 


41 


quite late in the evening before all the bundles 
were opened. What a hand-shaking and kiss- 
ing there was ! 

“ 1 thought that looked like a foot-pusher 
when Tomt brought it in,” said Sigrid, who 
shone with happiness over her new treasure. 

How proud I am of my children,” said 
Mrs. Lund, as Sigrid and Erik were thanking 
her for their gifts. “ I am sure I had no idea 
you could knit so well. I shall use the cozy 
for afternoon coffee to-morrow. And the 
Viking ship tray is really beautiful, Erik.” 

Little children should have been abed and 
asleep when the family finally sat down to 
their supper. But it was Christmas Eve, and 
nobody minded. Among all the good things 
that Sigrid ate that night, I must tell you 
about two dishes that every Swedish girl eats 
for her Christmas supper, — lut-fisk and rice 
porridge. The big bowl of porridge had a 
crisscrossing of powdered cinnamon over the 


42 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

top. Inside was one almond. The person 
who found it would be the next one in the 
family to be married. 

For weeks, the Christmas lut-fisk — a kind 
of fish — had soaked in lye. Then it was 
cooked a long time. Whenever Sigrid lifted 
a portion on her fork, it fell apart in delicate 
flakes that were quite transparent. 

“We must not forget to put out a dish of 
porridge and milk for Tomt when he comes 
back in the night,” said Erik, as the children 
were getting ready for bed. 

“ ril bring Anders* little chair from the 
nursery, because it is so low Tomt can reach 
up to it,** said Sigrid. “ If I put it beside the 
kitchen door, I am sure he will see it when he 
comes in.** 

Early the next morning, — oh, very, very 
early, — Anders crept down-stairs to see if 
Tomt had been there. 

“ He drank all the milk and ate most of the 


Yule-tide 


43 


porridge/’ cried Anders, in great excitement. 
Then he ran back to let Miss Eklund finish 
dressing him. 

‘‘It seems more like night than morning,” 
exclaimed Erik. It was not six o’clock, but 
the children were starting for church. Indeed, 
it could not have been blacker at midnight. 
But in almost every window that they passed 
two candles burned brightly. When they 
returned for their breakfast, after the joyous 
Christmas service, the sun had not yet risen. 

For days the festivities continued. 

“Please, mother, may we keep the tree till 
Knut’s Day?” begged Anders on New Year’s 
afternoon. The candles had been relighted on 
the tree for a party for some poor children. 
The last happy child had gone home, loaded 
with goodies. 

Mrs. Lund consented. But even Knut’s 
Day, the thirteenth of January, came all too 
soon. Then the children helped to “ rob the 


44 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


tree/* as the Swedes say when they take off 
its pretty trinkets. They looked very solemn 
as one of the maids carried the tree into the 
back-yard. 

“ Now Christmas is really over/* mourned 
Erik, ‘‘ and school begins to-morrow.** 


CHAPTER IV 

AT grandmother's 

‘‘ Pera, you do remember me, don't you ? 
Oh, you nice old dog ! " Anders threw his 
arms around the neck of a small shaggy yellow 
dog that was wriggling almost out of his skin 
with joy. You could not have told which was 
the happier, the dog or the boy. 

“Just think! I haven't seen you for six 
months, Pera I " The two playmates romped 
across grandmother's lawn to the porch, where 
Erik was sitting on the steps with a tennis 
racket, waiting for his father. 

“ Sigrid has been hunting everywhere for 
you, Anders," said Erik. 

“ Here you are," exclaimed Sigrid a minute 

later, as she spied Anders. “ Larsson says 
45 


46 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

there is a baby calf over in the barn, and he 
will show it to us if we will go now/* 

Anders jumped up quickly, and followed by 
the dog, the children ran toward the group 
of barns and stables, at some distance from the 
house. 

Look at all those wild strawberries in this 
field,** said Anders. 

I had forgotten that it was time for them. 
I must ask grandmother if we can pick all we 
want,** said Sigrid. 

‘‘ I want to see father’s new sailboat. Have 
you been down to the lake yet ? ** asked 
Anders. 

No,** said Sigrid. Let’s go around and 
see everything. Mother says we shall stay all 
summer, because poor grandmother is so old 
and feeble she doesn’t like to leave her. Lars- 
son, Larsson, where are you ? ** 

The old farmer, who had taken care of the 
grounds and farm for many years, hobbled out 


At Grandmothers 47 

to the barn door to welcome the children 
and to show them the new calf, the little 
pigs, and the chickens. 

No place in the world is quite so interesting 
as grandmother’s old house, whether you are a 
Swedish or an American girl. 

Sigrid’s grandmother lived in a fine old 
house on a hilltop which overlooked Lake 
Malar. It was only a short journey of two or 
three hours from Stockholm, yet it was quite 
out in the country, several miles from any 
village. As you drove through the avenue 
of huge beech-trees, you would be curious to 
know why so many small, low-lying buildings 
were grouped near the house. They were 
placed to form three sides of a square, after the 
fashion of many Swedish country places. 

Off in the distance were the barns, which 
the children visited, and another group of red 
cottages, where the farm-helpers and their 
families lived. These people lived in a little 


48 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


world by themselves, with everything they 
needed right on the grounds. If Mrs. Lund 
wished fish for dinner, she could not send a 
maid to market to buy a live fish from a tank 
of water, as she did in Stockholm. Instead, 
one of the servants caught the fish in the 
lake, or she ordered smoked fish from the 
storehouse. 

On each side of the family residence were 
houses for the servants. Some of the small 
separate sheds were used for washing, baking, 
tools, and provisions. But you would enjoy 
a peep into some of these buildings with the 
children. 

The new sailboat was anchored at the 
wharf near the bath-house. Father has 
promised to teach Erik how to sail this sum- 
mer,’* said Sigrid. They were clinging to the 
wharf railing, so that they could get a glimpse 
of the little cabin, with its two bunks and red 
cushions. “ I am glad you learned to swim 


At Grandmother's 


49 

last summer, for now we can have such sport 
when Karin and Elsa get here.” 

Sigrid had learned to swim when she was 
very small. Look in your geography and you 
will see that almost one-tenth of the whole 
surface of Sweden is covered with lakes and 
rivers. There is water, water everywhere. 
Just fancy how miserable a Swedish mother 
would be if her little daughter could not 
swim! 

The door of the storehouse stood open 
when the children climbed the hill from the 
lake, so they slipped in after Svea. On the 
outside, it was just a mound of grassy earth, 
with a door cut in the grass, but no windows. 

“ Isn’t it cool in here ! ” exclaimed Anders. 
“ Svea, aren’t you going to skim the 
milk ? ” 

‘‘ Later in the day, Anders,” said the maid, 
who held her lantern up over her head while 
she hunted for the sausages. 


50 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

From above, hung long strings of sausages, 
smoked hams, and fish. In the dim light of 
the lantern, the children could see the big 
round cheeses and the bins of potatoes. The 
pans of milk were set to cool in another room 
of this queer storehouse. 

“ I wish you would give us some lingon 
jam,” said Sigrid. The kind we had last 
year, Svea.” 

Wait till I open a new jar. Now, run 
ahead, for I want to lock the door,” replied 
Svea. She had not forgotten how the children 
had teased her the summer before for their 
favourite jam of red Swedish berries. 

“ Next week will be the time for washing. 
Perhaps mother will let us ride down to the 
lake when the clothes are carried there,” said 
Sigrid. She tried to lift herself up on the 
window-sill to look into the wash-house, where 
the huge copper kettle was ready to boil the 
clothes, but she was not tall enough. 


At Grandmothers 


51 


‘‘Never mind/’ she said. “We can get 
into the bake-house, I am sure. Sometime, 
Svea says, I may help her bake bread. It 
must be almost time now, for she hasn’t made 
any for several months.” 

In the city, Sigrid’s mother bought her rye 
bread from a baker, but grandmother had her 
bread baked three or four times a year in this 
little house. Most of the room was filled by 
the huge stone fireplace, which was heated to 
a high temperature. Then the coals were 
raked off and the rye bread cooked on the hot 
stones. 

“ What does she do with this flat round 
piece of wood with a short handle ? ” asked 
Anders, who was exploring. 

“ Oh,” said Sigrid, “ it is a great lark to 
watch her. She rolls out the batter quite thin, 
and slips that wooden shovel beneath each 
cake. Then she takes this other wooden 
spade with a long handle, shakes the cake 


52 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


from the little spade to that one, and thrusts it 
on the hot stones. Svea does it very quickly, 
but she laughed when I asked if it was 
hard, so 1 don’t believe it is as easy as it 
looks.” 

Don’t you think it is time for dinner ? 
I am so hungry,” said Anders. 

“ Guess what we are going to have to-day,” 
said Sigrid. 

‘‘ Pancakes and jelly,” Anders replied 
promptly. 

No, sour milk, with powdered ginger on 
top.” 

‘‘ Let’s run, then,” said Anders, because I 
don’t want to be late and have father say 
I cannot have any.” 

But they arrived in season and ate their full 
share of the white curds, which they always 
enjoyed. 

Inside of the old house, you would be 
amazed at the size of the rooms. Though 



BAKING RYE BREAD AT GRANDMOTHER’S 



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At Grandmothers 


53 


they were simply furnished, there was much 
choice old carved furniture, lovely plants, and 
vines, so that the rooms were very cheery. 
The floors were scrubbed beautifully clean and 
covered with rugs. Everywhere was exquisite 
order and neatness. 

As in the city home, the children had a 
large nursery, where they always played during 
the little time they were indoors. A trapeze 
hung between the nursery and an adjoining 
room ; a large cushion rested beneath. On 
rainy days, the children hung from this indoor 
swing and climbed the ropes like young 
monkeys. 

One, two, three, four, five,*' counted 
Sigrid, as she sat on the porch a few days after 
their arrival. “ Why, are all those old women 
going to help with the washing to-morrow, 
mother? ” 

“ Yes ; we shall need them all. Larsson 
has arranged for them to sleep at some of the 


54 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

servants' houses, so they will be ready to begin 
very early in the morning." 

The queer procession of old women, with 
coloured kerchiefs tied over their heads, slowly 
filed down the road. Long before the chil- 
dren were awake the next morning, a fire had 
been lighted in the wash-house beneath the 
monster kettle, and the women were at 
work. 

Wasn't that a lively week, though ! Si- 
grid's mother was an excellent housekeeper, 
but she never had all the clothes and linen 
of the family washed but three times a year! 
Such scores and scores of garments went into 
that copper kettle — enough to clothe a whole 
village. Even if her family had been quite 
poor, Sigrid would still have had many more 
dresses and aprons than her American cousin. 

By the time the oxen were harnessed to a 
long, low wagon with latticed sides, Sigrid and 
Anders were ready to climb in and ride to the 


At Grandmother's 


55 


lake with the old women and the tubs of 
clothes which had boiled in the kettle. 

As soon as they arrived at a clean, sandy 
beach near the wharf, the children hopped out 
of the wagon. 

‘‘ Let’s sit in the rowboat at the end of the 
wharf,” said Anders. Then we can play 
we are pirates and watch the women on the 
shore.” 

The washerwomen took off their shoes and 
stockings, pinned up their skirts, and waded 
into the water. Then there was such a splash- 
ing and rinsing of clothes, and bobbing of 
kerchiefed heads, and swinging of long arms ! 

“ They are bad children. We must beat 
them very hard,” one wrinkled old woman 
explained to Anders. She had carried her 
pile of dripping clothes from the water’s edge 
to a big stone, where she pounded them with 
a flat wooden beater. ‘‘ But they will be as 
white as a lily when I am done.” 


56 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

Later all the garden bushes were spread 
with garments. You needed only to half-close 
your eyes to fancy a summer snow-squall had 
whitened the green grass over a large area. 

Everything in the house will be fresh and 
sweet for Midsummer’s Day,” sighed Mrs. 
Lund, when the last washerwoman had re- 
turned to the country district where she lived. 


CHAPTER V. 
midsummer's eve 

‘‘ It looks more like the mast of one of the 
big ships in the harbour than anything else,” 
said Erik. He and his father were standing 
beside the huge May-pole which lay flat on the 
green grass in grandmother's front lawn. 
Near by several men were hammering away on 
a large wooden platform, in the centre of which 
the pole was to be hoisted. 

Yes, my son, I have often thought so. 
This pole is not more than fifty feet high. I 
have seen them twice as tall. But if we are 
going to cover all these cross-bars with birch 
boughs and wreaths, we must hitch up old 
Maja and drive into the woods soon.'' 

“ Indeed, you must,'' said Mrs. Lund, as 
57 


58 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


she hurried across the lawn with a huge wreath 
of daisies over her arm and a basket of nod- 
ding bluebells. You will find us under that 
clump of beeches, making our wreaths, when 
you return. Oh ! there is plenty for every one 
to do before the pole is trimmed for to- 
night.** 

“ Mother, you do make wreaths so fast,** 
said Sigrid. She was sitting in the midst of a 
group of friends and relatives, who had gath- 
ered at grandmother*s to celebrate Midsum- 
mer*s Eve and the day following. As she 
talked, she sorted daisies, or ‘‘ priests*-ruffs,** as 
she called them, into bunches for her mother. 

“ Just hand me a clump of those white 
daisies, so I can tie their long stems to this 
rope, and you will soon see how I do it,** said 
Mrs. Lund. 

“To-night will be the longest of the whole 
year,** said Miss Eklund, while her fingers 
plaited birch leaves. “ How I love these long 


Midsummers Eve 


59 


days of sunshine ! Why, last night I read in 
my room without a lamp till almost eleven 
o’clock ! ” 

“ Please tell Karin and me about how you 
made pancakes on Midsummer’s Eve when 
you were a little girl, Miss Eklund,” begged 
Sigrid, who, with her cousin, was sitting near 
the governess. 

“ Oh ! the young girls out in the country 
where I used to live will have a merry time 
of it to-night. I wonder if they still make 
pancakes. I was about sixteen years old the 
night I tried it with two other girls, for the 
charm would not work unless there were 
three. Together we took the bowl from the 
cupboard, beat the eggs, and added the flour. 
All three of us stirred it at once and threw 
in the salt at the same time. Of course, we 
got in too much salt. Not one of us must 
speak or laugh the whole time. That was 
the hardest of all. Dear me, I hadn’t thought 


6o Our Little Swedish Cousin 


of that night for years/’ Miss Eklund de- 
layed her tale to laugh as heartily as if she 
was making up for lost time. 

‘‘After we had poured out the batter and 
cooked it, each of us ate a third of the very 
salt cake. But we couldn’t drink before we 
went to bed. During our dreams, the older 
girls told us that a young man would appear 
to each of us and offer us a glass of water.” 

Karin interrupted the story by exclaiming, 
“ What is that coming down the road ? I 
believe it is the boys with our green boughs. 
Old Maja doesn’t look as though he liked 
those branches thrust behind his ears. Why, 
the wagon is all one bower of birch-trees I ” 
As the wagon drove into the yard, Erik 
spied his newly-arrived cousin and sung 
out : 

“ There once was little Karin, 

Who at the royal hall 
Among the handmaids serving 
The fairest was of all. 


Midsummers Eve 6i 

Then spoke the King, * Fair Karin, 

Wilt thou my sweetheart be ? 

My horse and golden saddle 
ril straightway give to thee.* ** 

The children all laughed merrily at the new 
turn to the familiar old song. 

“ How pretty we shall make the May- 
pole ! ” exclaimed Sigrid. 

She called it a “May-pole/* though it was 
the middle of June. The Swedish word for 
‘‘ May ” means green leaf. And a ‘‘ green-leaf 
pole it certainly was when they had draped 
the cross-bars with leaves and garlands and 
added scores of the yellow and blue flags of 
Sweden. 

Toward the close of the afternoon, the pole 
in its gala-dress was swung into place by means 
of huge ropes. Then a great shout went up 
from the little crowd of relatives and working 
people who lived on the grounds. 

“ Strike up a dance, Per,'' cried Major Lund 


62 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


to the fiddler. In a twinkling, the children 
had caught hold of hands and were dancing 
around the pole. Old and young, servants 
and all, shared in the merrymaking. 

As Sigrid ran about in a gay costume, you 
would scarcely have recognized her. Instead 
of her plain city clothes, she wore a pretty 
peasant dress. Many fashionable Swedish 
mammas let their children wear this dress on 
holidays in the country. Over her dark blue 
woolen skirt, Sigrid wore a bright apron, 
striped in red, blue, yellow, black, and white. 
The waist was white, with a red silk bodice and 
shoulder-straps. An embroidered kerchief 
was folded quaintly about her throat. On her 
yellow braids rested a tall pointed blue cap, 
with red pipings and tassels in back. Several 
other little girls at the dance wore similar 
dresses. 

Erik,” said Sigrid, quite late in the eve- 
ning, as the fiddler stopped to tune up for 



“IN A TWINKLING, THE CHILDREN . . . WERE DAN- 
CING AROUND THE POLE ” 





Midsummer’s Eve 


63 


the next dance, “ several times to-night I 
have seen some one over by the well-sweep. 1 
thought perhaps he was one of the farmers* 
children. But he hides there as though he 
was afraid to come out.** 

‘‘ Suppose we go over and speak to him,** 
said Erik. 

When they reached the well-sweep, no one 
was there. 

“ I know that I saw him only a minute ago. 
There, I think he is behind that elm-tree. 
You run this side and I will go the other,** 
said Sigrid. 

All escape was cut off this time, and Erik 
dragged the cowering child from his hiding- 
place. 

“ If he isn*t a chimney-sweep ! ** exclaimed 
Erik when he saw the boy away from the 
shadow of the tree. 

‘^You needn*t be afraid of us, little boy,** 
said Sigrid, kindly. “You can*t help it because 


64 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

you have to go down into the chimneys and 
your face is always black with soot. Don’t you 
want something to eat ? ” 

The sooty youngster grinned and shifted 
his coil of rope from one shoulder to the other. 
He managed to murmur, “Thank you.” 
Sigrid ran ahead to the kitchen to get some 
salt herring, rye bread, and coifee. The little 
sweep left his long broom and rope on the grass, 
and began to eat greedily. 

“ Aren’t you ever afraid to go down inside of 
a pitch-black chimney?” asked Sigrid. Her 
interest in the dances had waned for a few min- 
utes, for she had never talked with one of these 
forlorn little creatures before. 

The boy shook his head in reply. He was 
too busy with his salt herring to waste any 
words. 

“ I am going to ask mother if she will let 
him stay here all night, ” said Sigrid. She 
did not know that this outcast, who was so 


Midsummer's Eve 


65 


shy with her, could take very good care of 
himself. All summer, he wandered through 
the country, cleaning chimneys. At night, he 
slept in strange barns or haymows and was 
very happy and comfortable. 

Mrs. Lund talked to the lad and told him 
that he could spend the night in one of the 
outhouses. The next day was a holiday and 
no one would want a chimney swept. 

Sigrid’s tender heart was at ease again, and she 
returned to the dancers. The older people 
stayed up far into the bright night, but the 
children soon went to bed. From her cham- 
ber window, Sigrid could see the huge bonfires 
on the hillsides far away. The witches are 
abroad on Midsummer’s Eve, and these fires 
drive them away. 

Every one goes to church on Midsummer’s 
Day, which is also called St. John’s Day. So 
the next morning, the Lund family drove 
several miles to a little country church. Be- 


66 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


fore they started, Sigrid went to find the sweep. 
But the little wanderer had started on his travels 
again. 

“ Larsson says all the school-children will 
sing carols, this morning,*’ said Mrs. Lund. 
“ I am sure we shall have a beautiful service.” 

As they drove along the road, they met 
many country people on their way to church. 
The women all carried their hymn-books 
wrapped neatly in a silk handkerchief. 

‘‘Why do the men all sit on one side and 
the women on the other ? ” whispered Anders.. 
His family sat in a little gallery of the church. 
Down below, the altar and the square box 
pews with doors were banked with lilacs. 

“Hush, dear,” replied his mother. “You 
must remember the country people are used to 
it, so it is not strange to them.” 

The ride home and the noonday meal 
seemed endless. As soon as ever they had 
thanked their parents for their food, the chil- 


Midsummers Eve 


67 


dren were out-of-doors again. A big wagon, 
trimmed with birches and filled with hay, was 
ready at the door. Midsummer’s Day without 
a picnic in the woods is almost as bad as 
Christmas without presents. 

‘‘ Don’t forget the nets for the crayfish, 
Erik,” said Major Lund, who was stowing away 
luncheon baskets in the wagon. 

“ They are in all right, father. The big 
kettle in which to boil them and the coffee-pot 
are under the seat,” said Erik. 

Even a plain every-day picnic, where you 
eat sandwiches and cakes under a tree, is fun. 
But on this picnic, the children were going 
to help catch crayfish, which look like small 
lobsters. Then they were planning to cook 
them over a camp-fire. 

The last child nestled into the hay and they 
were off. 


CHAPTER VI. 

A VISIT TO SKANSEN 

“ I WANT to see the Lapps and the reindeer. 
Aren*t we almost there ? ” said Anders to his 
mother. 

“ Yes, little son, we are nearly at the top of 
the hill,** replied Mrs. Lund. 

The Lund family were on their way to 
Skansen, a famous park near Stockholm. Soon 
the car stopped and every one scrambled out. 

“We are so high up that we can see the 
harbour,** said Erik, as he trudged along beside 
his sister with one of the luncheon baskets 
hung over his arm. At their feet lay the 
city of islands with its ribbon-like canals of 
blue. Away on the horizon, the water of the 

bay sparkled in the sun, like a huge amethyst. 

68 


A Visit to Skansen 69 

The children halted a minute to look back 
on the fair scene. 

“ Out there the Vikings sailed away to 
new lands/’ said Erik, who was never weary of 
dreaming about the heroes of the old sagas. 

Hurry up, children/* called Mrs. Lund. 
‘‘We have too much before us to see, to 
spend time looking back.” 

Through the entrance gate, they passed 
into a grove of pines and birches, with 
winding roads. Among the trees were many 
wild animals in pens, and queer houses and 
buildings, such as the children had never seen 
in the city or at grandmother’s. Every few 
steps, they met a soldier with a helmet and 
shield, or a brightly dressed peasant. You 
would think you had come to a foreign 
country, and so did Sigrid. 

As they turned a bend in the road, they 
saw a low cottage of hewn timber. It was 
painted red and had a hood over the door. 


70 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

In the yard was a wagon that might have 
been made by sawing a huge wooden cask 
from top to bottom, and then placing one 
half on wheels. 

I never saw such a funny cart,” said 
Anders. 

“ It is odd,” replied his father. “ A long 
time ago, people used to ride in a wagon 
like that. Suppose we go over and look at 
that house.” 

“You don't know the people who live 
there, do you, father?” enquired Sigrid. 

“No, my daughter,” he replied. “But all 
these people are accustomed to visitors. You 
see, a few years ago, there lived a wise man 
named Artur Hazelius, who loved his 
country very dearly. He travelled from the 
fjelds and glaciers where the Lapps live to 
the fertile fields of Skane, in the south. 

“ Something troubled him very much. 
He cared a great deal for the queer old 


A Visit to Skansen 71 

homes which he saw in out-of-the-way vil- 
lages. No one makes such houses to-day. 
He knew they would soon be destroyed. 
Then he was sorry that only a few peasants 
still wear their old gay costumes. 

“ So he said to himself, ‘ I will go to the 
king and ask him to give me a large park. 
There I will fetch some of these houses. 
Our children will not have to read in 
books about the way their great-grand- 
fathers lived. They shall visit the very 
houses they lived in.* ** 

How could he bring a whole house 
here ? ** asked Erik. 

‘‘ That was hard sometimes,’* Major Lund 
replied. ‘‘ Often they pulled down a house, 
brought the timber here, and set it up as 
it was before. Then he had people come 
here and wear the same clothes and live in the 
same way they did in the olden times. No- 
where in the world is there a park like this.** 


72 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

“See that little girl with a kerchief over 
her head, peeping at us from the window,'' 
said Anders. 

A moment later, a smiling peasant 
woman came to the door. She made a 
curtsey and invited them to enter. 

“Why, I can scarcely see at all," said Sigrid. 

The big living-room was lighted by the tiniest 
little window. The two sleeping-rooms were 
also as dark as your pocket, and very small. 
Hemlock tips were strewn over the clean 
floor. From the ceiling hung a pole of flat rye 
bread. 

“You dear baby ! " exclaimed Sigrid's mother, 
for she had discovered a small canvas hammock 
hung in a dark corner. The baby was asleep 
in its hanging nest. 

“ She is a very good child and lies there all 
day by herself," said the baby's mother. 

“ They never can move their beds at all," 
said Sigrid, who was making a tour about the 


A Visit to Skansen 


73 


room. She peered curiously between some 
striped hand-woven curtains which hung in 
front of a wooden bed, built into the house. 
Similar beds lined the walls. 

‘‘ Many of the peasants use that kind of 
bed,** said Major Lund. ‘‘ Once, when I was 
in Lapland, I slept in a big drawer.** 

“ Was that the time that you were snowed 
in and you climbed out through the chimney to 
dig a path ? ** asked Erik. 

“Yes, that was the same time,** said his 
father. 

“ I should think you would have smothered 
in the drawer,** said Anders, who had been 
very quiet. 

“ There was no danger of that,** replied Major 
Lund. “ All around the rooms were wooden 
sofas. At night, you pulled out a big drawer 
beneath the seat. The drawer was filled with 
hay, and over that you spread blankets.** 

Mrs. Lund talked to the peasant woman 


74 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

while the children continued to look about. 
A huge fireplace filled one corner of the room. 
On a low brick platform that came out into the 
room, the fire was built. 

Across another corner a rope was stretched. 
Over it hung dresses and coats. 

‘‘What do they do that for?” whispered 
Sigrid to her mother. 

“They haven’t any closet for their dresses 
except that,” replied Mrs. Lund. 

For a moment or two, after they came out 
of the gloomy interior, the sun was dazzling. 
They ate dinner under some pine-trees, and 
then kept on through the woods. 

“We haven’t time to visit all these houses. 
But you would like to see the hut half-buried 
in the ground. The herdsmen live in such 
places in summer while they are tending 
their cattle. And we won’t forget the Lapps, 
Anders,” said the father, gently tweaking his 


son s ear. 


A Visit to Skansen 


75 

Who are all those people in that carriage 
asked Mrs. Lund. 

“I had almost forgotten that this is Bell- 
man’s day. Those people live here. They 
always dress in the costume of the time of our 
beloved poet on his anniversary day.” 

An old carryall drove slowly past. Within 
were several men dressed in black velvet coats 
and knee-breeches, white wigs, and three-cor- 
nered hats. 

“ Later in the day, we will walk over to 
Bellman’s statue, where I am sure we shall 
find many people.” 

“ I see the reindeer,” exclaimed Anders. 
“ There they are on those high rocks.” 

Before them stretched the group of Lap- 
lander tents of birch poles covered with canvas. 

“ That dark-skinned girl playing with the 
dog looks about my age. I wonder what she 
does with the wooden spoon which hangs from 
her belt,” said Sigrid. 


76 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

‘‘ Go and ask her, if you like,” said Mrs. 
Lund. “ I don’t believe that she will under- 
stand you. That tent has the flap turned 
back. Do you see that flat stone in the 
centre ? Her dinner is cooked in a big kettle 
on that stone. When the meal is ready, 
she will dip her ladle into the kettle for her 
share.” 

“ Over yonder is the summer-house of our 
famous seer, Swedenborg. It used to be in 
his garden in Stockholm, and there he worked 
and wrote,” said Major Lund, nodding in the 
direction of a neat pavilion. 

We have just time before the dances to 
see the people who are celebrating Bellman’s 
day,” said Mrs. Lund. 

Wreaths and flowers decked the bronze bust 
of the poet. At the foot of the pedestal a 
man was reciting, and the crowd was very quiet. 

“ How he loved to come here and lie out in 
the warm sun and sing those same songs that 


A Visit to Skansen 77 

man is reciting ! ” said Major Lund. They 
lingered only a few minutes. 

“ This is what I like,” said Sigrid, with an 
air of great content. She and her brothers 
had hurried ahead of their parents. They sat 
watching some lively dancing on a large plat- 
form. 

They have begun ‘ Weaving Homespun,’ ” 
said Erik, as the fiddler and accordion player 
struck up a quaint air. 

The peasants faced each other in two lines. 
Then the men and maidens wove in and out 
in the figures of the dance. “ Like weaving 
on an old loom,” Erik explained to Sigrid. 

“ I wish I could have a red dress and a 
stiff white cap with pointed ears,” said Sigrid, 
who could not keep her eyes away from one of 
the dancers. 

‘‘The crown princess also admires that 
dress,” said Mrs. Lund. ‘‘ She requires all her 
maids of honour to wear it, in the forenoon, at 


78 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


Tullgarn. I am sure it is so pretty, I don’t 
believe they mind at all.” 

‘‘No two of those girls are dressed alike,” 
continued Sigrid, who was still interested in 
costumes. 

“ That is because each maid wears the peas- 
ant dress of one of the provinces of Sweden, 
and there are many provinces. One of those 
Dalecarlian girls has a dress like the one 
you wore on Midsummer’s Eve. In that part 
of the country, the girls wear their bright 
aprons and kerchiefs more than anywhere else 
in Sweden.” 

“ Why, where is Anders ? ” asked Major 
Lund. He had been chatting with an old 
friend and had just returned to his family. 

Sure enough, the lad had disappeared. The 
crowd had pressed in close about the platform. 
Every one was so pleased with these old folk- 
dances, that they had forgotten the child. 

“ Do you suppose he has gone back to look 


A Visit to Skansen 79 

at the seals or the polar bears ? asked 
Erik. 

It was sometime before Major Lund re- 
turned from his hunt. But Anders was with 
him. 

“ Where do you think I found the rogue ? 
asked Major Lund. ‘‘He was drinking rasp- 
berry juice with a nice old lady who thought 
he was lost. Do you know what happens to 
little boys who run away ? ** 

Major Lund looked very stern. But the 
mother was so glad to find the child that I 
don't believe anything did happen. 


CHAPTER VII. 

THROUGH THE GOTA CANAL 

The gong clanged. The big steamer 
churned the water into foamy suds as it left 
the wharf at Stockholm. Sigrid and her father 
and mother waved their handkerchiefs to the 
friends on shore as long as they could see 
them. 

“ Let us find seats in the bow of the boat, 
where we shall have a good view of the canal,*’ 
said Mrs. Lund. 

“ I never was in such a large boat before. 
It is just like a house,” cried Sigrid, who was 
much excited. 

‘‘Wait till you see the small state-room with 
the red plush sofas that turn down at night for 
a bed,” said Major Lund. “We must leave 

8o 


Through the Gota Canal 8i 

all these posies there before we come on deck 
again.” 

All three of them had their arms full of 
flowers which their friends had brought them. 

How long will it take us to get to Aunt 
Frederika’s house, father?” 

Nearly three days. You will enjoy the 
trip, Sigrid. We are to cross the whole of 
Sweden. But we shall see beautiful country 
and many old castles before we reach Gbteborg. 
You won’t have to stay on the steamer all the 
time, for we shall often get oflF at the locks 
and wander through old towns.” 

‘‘Wherever shall we sleep?” Mrs. 
Lund asked with a smile. The great mass 
of flowers almost filled the tiniest room 
you ever saw. They finally had to throw 
some of them away when they went to 
bed. 

“I wish Erik and Anders could have come 
too,” said Mrs. Lund when they were on deck 


82 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


again. She almost never took a journey with- 
out her whole family. 

“Grandmother would be very lonely if we 
were all gone. Our two weeks* trip will soon 
be over/* replied her husband. 

“Father,** said Sigrid, a few hours later, 
“sometimes the canal is not much wider than 
the boat. Why, it seems just as if we 
were riding on top of the land instead of the 
water.** 

“Yes, I know what you mean.** Major 
Lund was amused at the child*s distress of 
mind. “We shall go through several places in 
the canal, so narrow that trees on opposite 
banks arch over the boat. But when we reach 
the big lakes you will think we are at sea. 
Sometimes they are so broad, you cannot see 
the shore.** 

“I thought it was the Gbta Canal all the 
way,** said Sigrid. 

“So it is,** replied her father. “But that is 


Through the Gota Canal 83 

like a family name for wide rivers, big lakes, 
and little short canals that all join hands to 
make a waterway across the country/’ 

Long before bedtime, Sigrid felt quite at 
home in her new quarters. After supper, she 
again sat on deck with her parents. 

Suddenly, they heard a sharp cry. ‘‘Oh, 
Isabella, you will drown ! Can’t you get her, 
father ? What shall I do ! Oh ! Oh ! ” 

Several people hastened to the side of the 
boat where the cry rose. A pretty child was 
weeping bitterly, while her father was trying to 
comfort her. 

“She has only lost her doll in the water, 
madam,” explained the gentleman to Mrs. 
Lund, who was eager to help. He spoke in 
English. 

“ What did he say ? ” asked Sigrid, who was 
too far oif to hear. 

“ She dropped her doll overboard while she 
was waving her hand to some children on the 


84 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

shore. Poor child ! she is all alone with her 
father.” 

Is she an English girl ? ” asked Sigrid. 

“ I think she is an American. Perhaps she 
would like some of your twisted ring cakes, 
when she stops crying.” 

When the child’s sobs finally ceased, Mrs. 
Lund said to her kindly : 

“Won’t you come and sit beside my little 
daughter ? She wants to give you some of her 
cakes.” 

The two- children glanced at each other 
shyly. 

“ May I, father ? ” asked the American child. 
“ Certainly, Anna. You are very kind to 
amuse her,” said the stranger politely to Mrs. 
Lund. 

Sigrid could speak in English as well as 
Swedish, which seemed to surprise Anna. 

“ What nice sweet pretzels ! ” said Anna as 
she nibbled at one of the cakes. 


Through the Gota Canal 85 

" Mother bought them of a peasant girl who 
came on board at that funny place where the 
banks were so high we couldn't see the town,” 
explained Sigrid. 

“ Did you bring your doll with you ? ” 
asked Anna, who still mourned the lost 
Isabella. 

‘‘ Oh, yes ! " said Sigrid, and a whole trunk 
of clothes. Wait a moment and I will get 
her.” 

She returned with a pretty yellow box on 
which red and blue flowers were painted. 
Grandmother had a large chest at home exactly 
like this toy. 

Oh ! you have a peasant doll. How I 
wish I had one like that! Mother bought 
Isabella for me in Paris,” said Anna. 

During the next two days of the trip, the 
little girls were often together. 

“ What a giant stairway ! I don't see how 
the steamer can go up to the top," Sigrid 


86 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


exclaimed, the next morning. They had 
reached the town of Berg, and as she looked at 
the canal before her, she saw seventeen locks, 
which mounted to the sky. 

But it can,'* said Major Lund. “ Hun- 
dreds of vessels climb those locks every year. 
It will take several hours, so that we may as 
well go ashore. 

“ When we come to Vadstena, Sigrid, we 
shall have just time to cross the drawbridge 
and visit a grim old castle there. Gustaf Vasa, 
our first Swedish king, built it more than three 
hundred years ago." 

“ Didn't we have any kings before him ? " 
asked Sigrid. 

“Yes," said Major Lund. “But he was 
the first king to unite our people and make 
Sweden a strong nation." 

“ Mother and I took a trip once while we 
were in Stockholm. Some one pointed out the 
Castle of Gripsholm, where a nobleman named 


1 



♦ 


THE GOTA canal 








Through the Gota Canal 87 

Vasa hid during the ‘ Blood Bath of Sweden/ 
Was that the same man?” asked Anna, who 
was standing near. 

“ Erik told me all about that once,” replied 
Sigrid. “ I am sure he is the same man. 
King Christian, the Dane, ruled Sweden then. 
He was very cruel, Anna. Why, he murdered 
so many Swedish noblemen that people call 
that time ^ The Blood Bath.* No one knew 
who would have his head chopped off next.** 

Anna shuddered. “ Did they kill Gustaf 
Vasa?” 

His father was slain, but Gustaf Vasa 
fled away into the mountains,** replied Sigrid. 
Ever since she was a baby, she had heard these 
stories of the old kings. They were real 
people to her. 

“He had many wild adventures in Dalecar- 
lia. Sometime, if you go there, Anna, you 
will see where he lived. The people there 
loved him dearly and wanted him for king 


88 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


instead of the tyrant Dane,” said Major 
Lund. 

Do tell me about his adventures, Major 
Lund,” said Anna. 

‘‘Ask Sigrid; I am sure she knows,” he 
replied. 

Sigrid’s eyes shone with delight. “I know, 
I know,” she exclaimed. “He cut off his 
hair and put on homespun clothes, so he looked 
like a peasant. Then he worked in the mines 
and oh farms.” 

“Didn't the peasants know who he was?” 
asked Anna. 

“Some of them did. They wanted to save 
him from the Danish soldiers. Father saw a 
house where a woman helped him to escape. 
She hung a towel from a window. With 
that for a rope, he climbed down and ran 
away. 

“The story I like best is the one about the 
farmer who hid Gustaf Vasa in a load of straw. 


Through the Gota Canal 89 


The soldiers thrust their spears all through 
the straw, but they could not find him. 

“One spear did wound him. The farmer 
feared the soldiers would return and see the 
blood-stains on the snow. So he took his jack- 
knife and cut a small place on his horse’s leg. 
When the soldiers came back, they saw the 
red spots on the white ground. The peasant 
showed them the wound on the horse and they 
were satisfied.” 

“Don’t forget about Margit’s quick wits,” 
said Major Lund. 

“She was a peasant woman in whose house 
Gustaf Vasa stayed,” continued Sigrid. “One 
day she heard the soldiers coming, 

“‘My lord, where shall I hide you?’ she 
cried. 

“That day she had brewed a huge tub of 
Christmas ale. In a second, she thought of a 
plan. 

“ ‘ H ere, hurry down this ladder.’ She pulled 


90 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

up a trap-door in the kitchen floor and he 
fled into the cellar. By the time the soldiers 
reached the gate she had pulled the tub of 
ale over the trap-door. The soldiers never 
guessed where the prince was.’' 

“ I suppose they caught him, at last,” said 
Anna. 

“That’s the best part,” said Sigrid. “After 
a long time, he gathered an army. Then he 
fought the Danes and made them give up 
Sweden for ever.” 

“Did you ever fight in a real war. Major 
Lund ? ” asked Anna, after a minute of silence. 

“ Not yet,” he replied. “ Awhile ago, 
when Norway wanted her own king, many 
people feared war between Norway and Swe- 
den. But everybody is glad that Haakon, 
the new King of Norway, was chosen without 
blood-shed.” 

“That Frenchman you were talking to this 
morning, father, called King Oscar a ‘ Ber- 


Through the Gota Canal 91 

nadotte.* What did he mean ? ” asked 
Sigrid. 

‘‘He was only referring to King Oscar’s 
French ancestor. King Karl XIII, who lived 
a hundred years ago, had no children. So the 
people tried to decide who should be the next 
king. Finally they chose a famous French 
officer, named Bernadotte, who fought under 
Napoleon. He was elected crown prince.” 

“ I am sure that must be Vadstena in sight 
now,” said Mrs. Lund. “It will be pleasant 
to go ashore for awhile. Grandmother asked 
me to buy her some of the lovely lace they 
make here.” 

“You will have to be quick, if you want to 
see the castle, too,” said Major Lund. 

The last few hours of the journey, they 
steamed down the Gdta River toward the city 
of Gdteborg. 

“ Gustaf Adolf chose well when he built a 
city at the mouth of this river,” said Major 


92 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

Lund to his wife. They were watching the 
huge rafts of timbers that were floating on their 
way to the seaport. 

“Was he any relation to Gustaf Vasa?” 
asked Sigrid. 

“Yes, Gustaf Adolf was his grandson. A 
nobler and braver king never lived,” replied 
Major Lund. He spoke with the love and 
reverence which every Swede feels for Gustaf 
Adolf, the greatest king the nation ever had. 

“ I do hope Aunt Frederika will be at 
the pier to meet us,” said Sigrid as they 
approached the landing. “ Oh, I think I see 
her ! No, I don’t.” 

But Aunt Frederika did find them, and 
welcomed them warmly. Such a fine visit 
they all had together ! Erik and Anders heard 
about little else for the rest of the summer. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


THE NAME - DAY 

The summer months had winged themselves 
away. All through the golden days, Sigrid 
had lived in the sunshine, as blithe and merry 
as an elfin maid. To be sure, there had been 
a short lesson nearly every day with Miss 
Eklund, for Sigrid’s mother did not believe 
that her little girl should spend all the holiday 
months in frolicking. 

September had come, and with it hints of 
long lesson days and a return to Stockholm. 
But in the excitement over Sigrid’s name-day 
party, it was easy to forget such unpleasant 
things. Karin, Elsa, and Karl, the cousins who 
had also been making a long visit with their 
grandmother, had begged to be allowed to stay 
for the party. Several little friends who lived 
93 


94 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

in fine villas on the lake were coming to 
spend the day. 

“ Be sure to call me at five o^clock in the 
morning, Miss Eklund,” said Elsa, on the 
evening before the party. 

Miss Eklund promised, so Elsa arose at an 
early hour and awoke the others. Followed 
by them, with their arms full of flowers 
and green leaves, she tiptoed into Sigrid's 
room. 

“ Hush, Anders, your boots squeak. We 
must not waken her. That would spoil 
everything,*’ whispered Elsa. 

‘‘ Hang the end of your garland over the 
bedpost, so,** continued Elsa. She festooned 
the brass post of Sigrid’s bed with the long 
chain of green leaves. Then she silently 
motioned to her sister Karin to do the same 
with her end. 

‘‘ I *11 tie this bunch of bachelors’-buttons to 
the corner of the foot-board where she will see 


The Name-day 95 

them when she first opens her eyes/* whispered 
Karin. 

My, doesn’t it look pretty ! ” said Elsa. 
The children then filed out into the hall 
and peered through the doorway. Sigrid’s 
rosy cheeks were half-buried in her plump arm, 
which was thrown up over her head. She 
appeared to be soundly sleeping in the midst 
of a huge nosegay of posies and green leaves. 

“Now I wish she would wake up,” 
exclaimed Anders in a very loud whisper. 

Elsa put her hand over his mouth, but not 
before the quiet figure in bed stirred a little. 
Suddenly Sigrid sat upright, rubbed her eyes, 
and clapped her hands. 

“ Oh ! Oh ! Who did it ? ” she cried aloud. 

In rushed the children, and then there was 
much laughing and kissing. Each child very 
politely congratulated Sigrid because it was her 
name-day. Even in the midst of a jolly good 
time, Swedish children do not neglect these 


96 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


graceful forms of speech which their parents 
have carefully taught them. 

“ Here comes Svea with a tray/’ somebody 
called out. 

The children made way for the neat and 
smiling maid. On the dainty tray which she 
placed in Sigrid’s lap, was a cup of steaming 
coffee and a plate of crisp caraway cookies. 
You might think that she had been sick, so 
that every one was trying to cheer her on 
her name-day. Dear me, no. Sigrid always 
had coffee and cakes served to her in bed every 
birthday and every name-day, just as if she 
was a grown-up society lady. 

Anders and Karin sat on the edge of the bed, 
and the others drew up their chairs while Sigrid 
sipped her coffee. 

“ My big sister has two name-days,” said 
Elsa. 

‘‘ Does she have three parties every year ? ” 
asked Sigrid. 


The Name-day 


97 


“Yes, indeed,’* replied Elsa. “Her real 
birthday comes in January. Then her name- 
days are in July and October. I wish I had 
two name-days. But mother says there are so 
many of us children that if we all had two 
name-days, we should be having a party about 
once in every three weeks all the year.” 

Everybody burst into laughter. Elsa had 
five brothers and sisters, so what her mother 
had said was quite true. 

In Sigrid’s land, you see, they name all the 
days of the year. When a little girl is born, 
she is generally given a name in the calendar. 
Sigrid’s birthday was in March, but Sigrid day 
in the calendar is in September. So she had 
two parties every year. 

“Name-day greetings, little daughter,” said 
Mrs. Lund as Sigrid came into the dining- 
room for breakfast. Again there was much 
kissing and hand-shaking. Sigrid’s chair at 
the table was draped with festoons of leaves. 


98 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

As she ate her breakfast in silence, she could 
not keep her eyes away from one corner of 
the room. There stood a little table covered 
with a snowy cloth. The centre was heaped 
with bundles of all shapes, done up in white 
paper with red sealing-wax. On the white 
cloth “ Sigrid ” was written with almonds and 
raisins. 

What good fun it was, after breakfast, to 
open all the mysterious bundles ! Such a 
heap of pretty things were concealed ! 

“Here is ‘Little Women,*” said Sigrid in 
great delight. “How did you know it was 
just what I wanted, mother?** For the tenth 
time Sigrid got up to run and kiss her mother. 
The green and gold bound book from which 
she had torn the wrapping was a translation of 
Louisa M. Alcott*s story, which is as dear 
to the little Swedish girl as to her American 
cousin. 

“No lessons to-day,** said Miss Eklund, 


The Name-day 99 

as the children came out of the dining- 
room. 

‘^Hurrah!” shouted Erik. ‘‘Won't you 
take us for a sail on the lake, father? You 
promised to go with us once more before I 
started for school.” 

“ Sigrid's name-day would be a fine time to 
go. Let me see. How many of you are 
there ? ” Major Lund looked around at the 
bright faces. Gerda and Per and several other 
neighbours had already arrived. “ Twelve 
— just two more than you are years old, 
Sigrid.” 

“You had better start early,” said Mrs. 
Lund. “ Remember the party this afternoon.” 

Just as if any one could forget ! 

The boys helped Major Lund to unfasten 
the boat from its moorings. A puff of wind 
filled out the white sail and they were soon off. 

“They thought I was asleep this morning 
when they were trimming my room,” Sigrid 
l- Of C, 


lOO Our Little Swedish Cousin 

confided to Erik, who was showing her how to 
steer the boat. 

‘‘ Fie on you, Sigrid ! ” said Erik, quite 
seriously, but he gave her plump cheek a little 
pinch. 

“ It was such fun,'* Sigrid laughed softly. 
“ When I heard Elsa tell Anders his boots 
squeaked, I thought I couldn't keep quiet a 
second longer." 

“ Look at all those snipe, Erik," Major 
Lund interrupted. The boat was sailing quite 
close to the shore. Several of these long- 
legged birds, which were picking their way 
across the beach, were startled by the voices 
and flew into the air. 

‘‘ What a queer call they have, uncle," said 
Elsa. 

“ Listen a moment till you hear it again," 
said Major Lund. 

They were very quiet for a couple of min- 


utes. 


lOI 


The Name-day 

‘‘It sounds like the noise old Maja makes 
when he wants us to give him a lump of 
sugar,” said Gerda. 

“ They make that sound with their wings as 
they fly,” said Major Lund. “The ‘horse- 
cuckoo,* some people call the snipe. Do 
you know how it received that name?** 

“ Do tell us, father,** said Anders. 

“It is just a short story about a careless 
farmer who had a lazy servant. For many 
days, the servant rode his master*s horse to 
pasture without giving the poor animal any 
water to drink. That was a very dry summer, 
so the horse suffered greatly. 

“One day the farmer wanted to drive to 
market. So he said to his servant: 

‘“Fetch my horse from the pasture.* 

“The servant went after the horse, but it 
had disappeared. He delayed so long that 
the master finally followed him into the field. 
But he could not find the horse either. Just 


102 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

as they had given up the search, they heard a 
neigh. In the next meadow, where they had 
been hunting, they saw the horse drinking 
at a spring. 

“ ‘ Are you really there ? ’ cried the farmer. 
He hastened over the stone wall to catch the 
horse. As he was about to put the halter over 
its neck, the horse disappeared and a snipe 
flew into the air. There the bird neighed till 
sunset.” 

‘‘That served the farmer quite right,” said 
Erik, indignantly, and the others agreed with 
him. 

The broad waters of Lake Malar were 
alive with sailing craft and small steamers. 
Who would stay indoors on such a day! 
Along the wooded slopes of the lake they 
sailed past many a lovely villa, half-hidden 
by trees, and occasionally some ancient 
castle. 

“That is the place where I saw a water-sprite 


The Name-day 


103 


late one afternoon,” said Sigrid. The breeze 
had died down and the boat seemed to rest at 
anchor near an old wooden bridge beneath 
which a hillside brook rushed joyously into 
the lake. 

“Did you really?” asked Elsa. Sigrid be- 
lieved in trolls, sea-nymphs, fairies, and water- 
sprites. But Elsa was several years older than 
her cousin, and she wasn’t at all certain that 
trolls and water-sprites still lived in the wild 
country, though they might have in the olden 
times. 

“Look underneath the bridge in that dark 
corner, just behind those rushes. Erik was 
rowing me home from your house, Gerda. 
When we got just there, something white and 
misty rose up out of the water. I heard a 
soft, sweet note, and Erik thought perhaps he 
did too. Then I thought I saw him dimly 
resting on the waves, just as Miss Eklund says 
water-sprites do.” 


104 Little Swedish Cousin 

‘^Weren’t you frightened ? ” asked Karin in 
wide-eyed surprise. 

“I wanted Erik to stop rowing so I could 
listen, but he wouldn’t. Mother said he must 
never take me there again toward night. 
Father, won’t you tell us the story of the water- 
sprite and the budding staff, while we are wait- 
ing for the wind to come up ? ” begged Sigrid. 

“It doesn’t look as though we should do 
much sailing for awhile. But you must all 
know the old legend, I am sure,” said Major 
Lund. 

“ We should like to hear it just the same,” 
the children all chimed in. 

“ Well,” began Major Lund, “ this water- 
sprite lived under an old bridge just like that 
one over there. He was such a happy fellow 
that he sat playing his harp half the livelong 
day. One afternoon, a grim and sour-faced 
old priest came ambling along on his horse, 
over the bridge. 


The Name-day 


105 

“ Suddenly he drew rein, for he heard the 
sweetest music. He rode back across the 
bridge and hunted several minutes before he 
discovered the merry sprite. 

‘‘In his ugliest tone of voice the priest 
called out : 

“ ‘ Why do you play your harp so joyously ? 
Have you nothing to do but idle away the day 
and the night in such foolishness? A lazy 
sprite like you will never get to heaven. 1 
should sooner expect to see this staff which 
I carry grow green and blossom, than find 
you there.’ 

“The water-sprite threw down his harp in 
great terror and began to weep bitterly. What 
had he ever done that the old priest should 
frighten him so ? 

“ Without giving further heed to the sprite, 
the priest rode on. For many years, his own 
life had been so dull and solemn, that it made 
him bitter to see other people happy. He 


io6 Our Little Swedish Cousin 

found a cruel pleasure in making the little 
sprite wretched. 

“While he was buried in his own gloomy 
thoughts, he did not see that the staff in his 
hands was slowly changing into the green 
branch of a living tree. Tiny green buds, then 
leaves, slowly, silently unfurled. As silently 
flower-buds appeared and opened into rosy 
blossoms, spicy with fragrance. 

“ The priest, at last, beheld the branch of 
leaves and flowers in his hand. He was filled 
with great wonder at himself. While the dead 
staff of wood slowly bloomed in his hands, 
something hard and cold in his heart seemed 
to melt. Not since he was a small boy had 
he listened to the singing of the birds with 
such joy. He dismounted from his horse 
to gather a handful of wild lilies-of-the- 
valley. 

“ He even smiled on a whistling peasant boy 
who passed him on the road. Then he thought 


The Name-day 107 

of the weeping sprite. In all haste he rode back 
to the bridge. 

‘‘To the sobbing lad, he said : 

“ ‘ Behold how my old staff has grown green 
and flowers like a rose-bush in June. This is 
a symbol, my good fellow, that hope blooms 
in the hearts of us all. You may yet go to 
heaven.’ ” 

At that minute, the limp sails stirred, the 
ropes rattled in the breeze, and the boat was 
soon under way. 

Early in the afternoon, the other guests of 
the party arrived. I could not begin to tell 
you all the games they played. Some were 
like those of their American cousins, but there 
were many new ones. Next to “ Blind Man’s 
Buff,” and “ Last Couple Out,” the best fun 
was “ Lend, Lend Fire.” 

All the children sat in a circle for this game. 
Karin, who had a cane, walked up to Erik and 
rapping on the floor, said, “ Lend, Lend Fire.” 


io8 Our Little Swedish Cousin 


But Erik replied, “ Go to the next neigh- 
bour.” Half-way around the circle Karin 
went, but every one made the same answer. 
In the meantime, the children were beckoning 
across to each other and exchanging seats. 
Finally, Karin was nimble enough to slip into 
a chair which was vacant for a second. It 
happened to be Sigrid’s place, so it was her 
turn to take the cane and hunt for fire. 

Mrs. Lund played for the children to dance 
old-fashioned ring dances. Sigrid would no 
more have thought her party complete without 
these dances in a big circle than if there had been 
no name-day cake. For of course she had 
a name-day cake. It did not have any candles, 
and it was not like any birthday cake you ever 
saw. Across the top of the round loaf of 
sweetened bread, “ Sigrid ” was written in 
twisted strips of bread, with cardamom seeds 
and currants sprinkled all over. 

Where could you find a prettier, cosier 


The Name-day 


109 

supper-room than within the round lilac hedge 
with its wide opening for a door? Here the 
table was set for the guests. 

Inside the lilac-bush hedge, with her other 
guests, we must say good-bye to our little 
Swedish cousin. Sometime, I hope you will 
cross the seas and meet her again. She is such 
a winsome maid, so healthy, happy, and well- 
mannered, that I am sure you would soon be 
good friends. 


THE END. 


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